Our Tent

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Our Tent: Innovative Jewish Learning for All.

Our new learning program, which is designed for our entire congregation, is the culmination of more than two years of studying best practices in education and the diverse needs of our 21st century learners. The Lifelong Learning Committee, together with staff and experts from the field, have created an educational program in the most creative, thoughtful, and engaging ways possible, with each member of our Suburban Temple-Kol Ami community in mind. The Board of Trustees has enthusiastically approved this plan.

Most importantly: as our primary learning program, Our Tent brings together our entire congregation on Sunday mornings to learn together. Our Tent is for adults and children, young and the old and all of us in between. It’s for those who want to learn together with all age groups, and for those who want to learn with their peers. It’s for those who prefer to learn through a book or lecture, and for those who want to learn through experience and expression of their creativity. It’s for those who want to explore history and those who want to dream about the future.

With Our Tent we seek, as we always have, to be pioneers. We’ve learned the following from educational
research, as well as the results of our congregational survey: you want to be partners in your Jewish education. You want to help decide what and how you learn. So we followed the advice of great educators, and you! We’ve built the entire program around you. Adults will choose those sessions which are most stimulating and uplifting. School age learners will sign up and attend for the entire year, and still benefit from choice as they select from the learning sessions that most intrigue and inspire.

Additionally, did you know that we learn and retain even more when we focus on an area in greater depth?
This is why we’re concentrating our classes into three trimesters, so we can build mastery on a topic. A Jewish scholar once wrote, “A tent cannot stand without pegs and cord, and Israel cannot stand without scholars.” Our Tent is a program that allows each of us to stand in a tent of Jewish learning in a meaningful and relevant way for the 21st century.

Congregational Chanukah Dinner Friday, Dec 15th 7:00p to 8:00pJoin us for a special Chanukah Shabbat Service. Come Grow With Me! will join in the service to help make this a multi-generational evening.
RSVP by noon on Friday, Dec. 8 to Dale at 216.991.0700 or dhopkins@suburbantemple.org.
The cost is $14 per person/$42 maximum per household; however, if you are a Come Grow With Me! family, the cost is $18 for your family!
Special thanks to Kol Nashim: The Women of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami for helping to sponsor our Chanukah celebration.